The Devils Lake Water Improvement District Board meeting was on Thursday October 11th at 6:00pm and was held in the City Hall Council Chambers located on the third floor of City Hall.

Informational Presentation: Randy Trox, Onsite Program Coordinator from the DEQ’s Eugene Office gave a presentation about how the DEQ’s onsite program (septics) has been working to update their rules and assure compliance with the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA). The State is responding to a Federal lawsuit won by the EPA contending that the State did not meet the requirements of CZARA. The draft rules will required a extensive septic tank inspection at the time of transfer including production of maintainence records, pumping, exposing of system components, inspection and evaluation. The DEQ will provide certification of the system. Failing systems will not prevent transfer of the property but repairs on the system will be required.

Public Comment: There were 5 interested parties in attendance. Most commentary centered on the current condition of the lake; both its low level and high algae content. Several expressed extreme frustration with the smell and inability to enter the water. Some shared examples of how they were unable to moor their boat due to low lake levels. Evidence was presented suggesting that lower lake levels did indeed led to warmer lake temperatures and higher algae levels. Pictures were presented to document areas where sea walls have been jeopardized due to lake levels below their foundations. The board was asked to take action to ensure this would not occur in the 2013 season.

Septic Ordinance: There was an attempt to express that the ordinance that the District seeks to work with DEQ to ensure that the inspection criterion match making it possible use a DEQ inspection to meet the local requirement and visa-versa.

Save Our Shoreline: The District authorized $2,200 to replace some plants and weed the two SOS projects at the boat ramps. The work will be performed by a local contractor. A discussion occurred related to the progress on the SOS video to be used to promote the program which took a back seat to the Revival this month.

Vegetation Management: The District’s contractor Max Depths is still in the process of creating a application to allow the placement of additional grass carp when required. The Board has yet to receive a document to review. The project’s time line will need to be extended.

Aquatic Plant Survey: Second phase of the survey was completed between September 17-19. A full report of their findings is to be available in November.

Sewer: Brian Green reported that consideration by the City has been delayed until December.

Communications: The District has circulated a lake survey in advance of the October 13th planning conference. They received 120 surveys prior to the meeting.

MidCoastTMDL: The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) continues the planning process for developing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for 303(d) listed waterbodies in the Oregon Mid-Coast Basin. There was a meeting in August that provided worked though the categorization of various bacteria in mid-coast lake bodies. More information about the Districts role can be found at http://www.dlwid.org/Projects.html#TMDL.

Summer Intern: Alyssa Clayton gave a report on how she has I have continued weeding and watering weekly at East Devils Lake State Park and Regatta Grounds. She has finished creating a digital archive of the Audits and the majority of the Budgets. The next step is putting them online, so that they can be easily accessible by the public. She has made a series of demonstration videos, meant to teach future interns how to carryvout the sampling and laboratory techniques for DNA analysis. She also worked at the Chinook Winds Casino Senior Fair.

Water Quality: Water quality monitoring ended Labor Day.

Lake Level Monitoring: The District has been conducting some lake level investigation for potential impacts to recreational users and properties. They have been collecting on boat docks, stating that they have visited over ¾ of the sites thus far. They also intend to include a photographic vegetation survey as well as compiling septic tank data and information that may be applicable. They will be documenting fish passage on the D-River. It is the expectation that a report will be given in the November meeting.

East Devils Lake Road: Lincoln County is in the process of drafting a report that details the background, issues, and most functional design alternative for East Devils Lake Road. The Salmon Drift Creek Watershed Council will share the report, upon completion, with the District.

Additional Board Comment: Brian Green commented that he felt the comments provided related to the lake condition were valuable. He said that when the Board said they would collect information about the impact on the lake and he felt the comments and material represented just that. He stated that the material should be taken into account. Noel Walker noted that he deals with boaters and has heard nothing but negitive comments this past summer. He also stated that this was not the time to make that decsion but he also appreciated the information.